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std::basic_string::compare

int compare( const basic_string& str ) const;	(1)
int compare( size_type pos1, size_type count1, const basic_string& str ) const;	(2)
	(3)
int compare( size_type pos1, size_type count1, const basic_string& str, size_type pos2, size_type count2 ) const;		(until C++14)
int compare( size_type pos1, size_type count1, const basic_string& str, size_type pos2, size_type count2 = npos ) const;		(since C++14)
int compare( const CharT* s ) const;		(4)
int compare( size_type pos1, size_type count1, const CharT* s ) const;		(5)
int compare( size_type pos1, size_type count1, const CharT* s, size_type count2 ) const;		(6)
int compare( std::basic_string_view<CharT, Traits> sv) const		(7)	(since C++17)
int compare( size_type pos1, size_type count1, std::basic_string_view<CharT, Traits> sv) const		(8)	(since C++17)
int compare( size_type pos1, size_type count1, std::basic_string_view<CharT, Traits> sv, size_type pos2, size_type count2 = npos) const;		(9)	(since C++17)

Compares two character sequences.

1) Compares this string to str. First, calculates the number of characters to compare, as if by size_type rlen = std::min(size(), str.size()). Then compares by calling Traits::compare(data(), str.data(), rlen). For standard strings this function performs character-by-character lexicographical comparison. If the result is zero (the strings are equal so far), then their sizes are compared as follows:

Condition		Result	Return value
`Traits::compare(data, arg, rlen) < 0`		data is less than arg	`<0`
`Traits::compare(data, arg, rlen) == 0`	`size(data) < size(arg)`	data is less than arg	`<0`
	`size(data) == size(arg)`	data is equal to arg	`0`
	`size(data) > size(arg)`	data is greater than arg	`>0`
`Traits::compare(data, arg, rlen) > 0`		data is greater than arg	`>0`

2) Compares a [pos1, pos1+count1) substring of this string to str as if by basic_string(*this, pos1, count1).compare(str) (until C++17)compare(pos1, count1, std::basic_string_view<CharT, Traits>(str)) (since C++17)

3) Compares a [pos1, pos1+count1) substring of this string to a substring [pos2, pos2+count2) of str as if by basic_string(*this, pos1, count1).compare(basic_string(str, pos2, count2)) (until C++17)compare(pos1, count1, std::basic_string_view<CharT, Traits>(str), pos2, count2) (since C++17)

4) Compares this string to the null-terminated character sequence beginning at the character pointed to by s, as if by compare(basic_string(s))

5) Compares a [pos1, pos1+count1) substring of this string to the null-terminated character sequence beginning at the character pointed to by s, as if by basic_string(*this, pos, count1).compare(basic_string(s))

6) Compares a [pos1, pos1+count1) substring of this string to the first count2 characters of the character array whose first character is pointed to by s, as if by basic_string(*this, pos, count1).compare(basic_string(s, count2)). (Note: the characters from s to s+count2 may include null characters))

7) Compares this string to sv, similar to (1) except for using sv.size() and sv.data() instead of str.size() and str.data()

8) Compares a [pos1, pos1+count1) substring of this string to sv, as if by std::basic_string_view<CharT, Traits>(this.data(), pos1, count1).compare(sv)

9) Compares a [pos1, pos1+count1) substring of this string to a substring [pos2, pos2+count2) of sv, as if by std::basic_string_view<CharT, Traits>(this.data(), pos1, count1).compare(sv, pos2, count2)

Parameters

str	-	other string to compare to
s	-	pointer to the character string to compare to
count1	-	number of characters of this string to compare
pos1	-	position of the first character in this string to compare
count2	-	number of characters of the given string to compare
pos2	-	position of the first character of the given string to compare
sv	-	`std::basic_string_view` to compare to

Return value

negative value if *this appears before the character sequence specified by the arguments, in lexicographical order.

zero if both character sequences compare equivalent.

positive value if *this appears after the character sequence specified by the arguments, in lexicographical order.

Exceptions

(none)	(until C++11)
`noexcept` specification: `noexcept`	(since C++11)

2-6) May throw the exceptions thrown by the corresponding basic_string constructors.

noexcept specification:

noexcept

(since C++17)

Possible implementation

template<class CharT, class Traits, class Alloc>
int basic_string<CharT, Traits, Alloc>::compare(const std::basic_string& s) const noexcept
{
    size_type lhs_sz = size();
    size_type rhs_sz = s.size();
    int result = traits_type::compare(data(), s.data(), std::min(lhs_sz, rhs_sz));
    if (result != 0)
        return result;
    if (lhs_sz < rhs_sz)
        return -1;
    if (lhs_sz > rhs_sz)
        return 1;
    return 0;
}

Notes

For the situations when three-way comparison is not required, std::basic_string provides the usual relational operators (<, <=, ==, >, etc).

By default (with the default std::char_traits), this function is not locale-sensitive. See std::collate::compare for locale-aware three-way string comparison.

operator==operator!=operator<operator>operator<=operator>=	lexicographically compares two strings (function template)
substr	returns a substring (public member function)
collate	defines lexicographical comparison and hashing of strings (class template)
strcoll	compares two strings in accordance to the current locale (function)
lexicographical_compare	returns true if one range is lexicographically less than another (function template)